Native temperate grasslands of south-east Australia

• There are plenty of “improved” grasslands - fields of wheat, oats, ryegrass, phalaris …
• Little native grassland remains - 2, 1, 0.5, 0.1 … % ?
• Native temperate grasslands are among Australia’s most endangered plant communities
• High biodiversity
• Support substantial proportion of threatened plants and animals
• Provide ecosystem services
  • store carbon
  • support pollinators
  • reduce salinity, soil acidity and erosion

• Best remnants are in cemeteries, road and railway reserves, travelling stock routes
• In Victoria, many 2- and 3-chain roads with the best remnants are old travelling stock routes
• Degradation continues so conserving these plant communities means constructing them
• In Australia, Victoria leads the way in this
• How? From scratch:
  • find a road reserve
  • make sure you’ve got enough seed for the project
  • scalp the top 100 mm of soil off to remove the weed seed bank and nutrient load
  • direct sow a mix of grass and forbs